Sad News Ian Allan Birmingham is to close

[Chrisjh]

Sad news today another retailer announces closure ...

 

Ian Allan Birmingham are to close on the 1st of October, although this hasn't been widely disclosed as of yet.

 

I model N Gauge and I prefer to purchase from a shop, can anybody suggest a good model shop to visit?

 

Many thanks

Best,

Chris

 

 

[AY Mod]

30 mins on the train up to Stafford will put you near Topp Trains who have a healthy N gauge range.

 

They may even offer you a cuppa and let you scoff some sweets out of the tin on the counter.

[Chrisjh]

Many thanks Ay Mod, Best Chris

[bart2day]

It’s sad, but they obviously weren’t doing well enough and their constant reductions shows this. 

 

I wonder if the one in Waterloo will stay open. When I was at uni in London I used to go there often on my way home. Great little shop and the last remaining in central London.

[Phil Parker]

Terrible news!

 

Not entirely unexpected I suppose, the rent for a city centre shop is going to be bad news, and enthusiasts are a nightmare if you want them to part with cash for full-price items.

 

It's also a shame that a shop covering many modelling disciplines can't survive.

 

I'll have to try to make at least one more visit. Another hole in my trips to Brum though. Now I've had to retire from giving blood, there's very little to encourage me to go in.

[mervyn]

Well that's bargain hunters posts halved ! .......

[Steamport Southport]

Terrible. I'd only just found it recently as well. Decent book selection as well as the models. Not just Ian Allan titles.

 

I'm travelling through Birmingham at the end of the month, but it's a bank holiday so I don't think it'll be open.

 

 

 

 

Jason

[Dava]

Sad as this removes one of the last reasons, or benefits, from visiting Birmingham city Centre. Great book stock and bargains. How long will Waterloo last now? 

[Edge]

Double whammy for me as they have discounted warhammer as well as the model train stuff. It’s just one less shop for me to actually go into now - both of my hobbies are increasingly based around ‘order stuff online and get it delivered’ 

[melmerby]

46 minutes ago, bart2day said:

It’s sad, but they obviously weren’t doing well enough and their constant reductions shows this. 

 

Most of the discounts are due to Bachmann offloading their surplus stock and surplusses in the book market as newish items are near or at RRP.

 

It will leave a big hole as they were great for anything to do with transport, book wise.

48 minutes ago, bart2day said:

 

I wonder if the one in Waterloo will stay open. When I was at uni in London I used to go there often on my way home. Great little shop and the last remaining in central London.

Never thought the Waterloo shop was as good as Birmingham, it never seemed to have the variety of stuff the one in Brum had.

 

 

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, Steamport Southport said:

Terrible. I'd only just found it recently as well. Decent book selection as well as the models. Not just Ian Allan titles.

 

I'm travelling through Birmingham at the end of the month, but it's a bank holiday so I don't think it'll be open.

Jason

AFAIK They don't publish Ian Allan books, they sold the transport publishing arm to Crecy a few years back. The Magazines went as well (Key Publishing?)

They kept their Masonic publishing division.

 

Looks like they are retrenching to their Cars, Property & Masonic businesses, the two model shops are just a remnant of the old Ian Allan of railway publishing fame.

I would be surprised if they didn't close Waterloo as well, as on it's own it will be something of an enigma.

(I was told a while back by one of the staff that the Birmingham branch was a more successful shop than the London one).

 

The group actually has it's fingers in lot's of non transport pies, which I assume are much more profitable.

Their website has lots of dead links to former businesses.

 

Have a look at the accounts. Makes interesting reading:

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00739567/filing-history/MzIyNzg1ODIzMGFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0

 

 

Edited August 3, 2019 by melmerby
added link

[TheSignalEngineer]

City centre rents are killing shops like this.

When IA in Manchester closed the landlord was asking twice the rent for less floor area. The charity shop a few doors down was being asked £98K per annum rent plus business rates on top. 

[John Tomlinson]

That's a real shame. An excellent range of books including military titles, as well as railways and models. I'm a bit surprised as there are usually a few people in there when I visit.

 

John.

[melmerby]

4 minutes ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

City centre rents are killing shops like this.

When IA in Manchester closed the landlord was asking twice the rent for less floor area. The charity shop a few doors down was being asked £98K per annum rent plus business rates on top. 

Charity shops should normally get 80% reduction in business rates, the local authority can (and some do) waive the other 20%.

[Steamport Southport]

2 hours ago, melmerby said:

AFAIK They don't publish Ian Allan books, they sold the transport publishing arm to Crecy a few years back. The Magazines went as well (Key Publishing?)

They kept their Masonic publishing division.

 

Looks like they are retrenching to their Cars, Property & Masonic businesses, the two model shops are just a remnant of the old Ian Allan of railway publishing fame.

I would be surprised if they didn't close Waterloo as well, as on it's own it will be something of an enigma.

(I was told a while back by one of the staff that the Birmingham branch was a more successful shop than the London one).

 

The group actually has it's fingers in lot's of non transport pies, which I assume are much more profitable.

Their website has lots of dead links to former businesses.

 

Have a look at the accounts. Makes interesting reading:

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00739567/filing-history/MzIyNzg1ODIzMGFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0

 

 

 

Ah. I thought it was owned by Crecy as they seem to have an awful lot of their books in stock and assumed they had keep the name.

 

 

 

Jason

 

[big jim]

This is terrible news, it’s a real shame it’s closing down.

 

always a quick diversion for me when changing trains in brum, many a time I’ve caught an earlier train just to go and see what’s new on the discount table, but I suppose that’s part of the problem, other than stuff on there I’ve bought little else ‘full price’ from the shop

 

I’d better go and use the £10 on my loyalty card up next time im in there 

[TheSignalEngineer]

8 hours ago, melmerby said:

Charity shops should normally get 80% reduction in business rates, the local authority can (and some do) waive the other 20%.

The 80% is mandatory for registered charities. The application of discretionary exemptions is open to interpretation, as is application rules for retail premises and non-profit organisations. 

Incidentally the current rateable value for IA in Birmingham is £44K approx. 

Edited August 4, 2019 by TheSignalEngineer
Correction of information

[melmerby]

I wonder whether the landlord is upping the rent somewhat at the next review due to it's now prime location near to the re-developed New Street station.

Formally it seemed a bit of a backwater there, off the main New Street/High Street shopping area.

Far more people enter New Street station at the new Stephenson Street/Navigation Street entrance than ever did the previous entry point by there (and it also takes you into Grand Central shopping).

I get the impression that the footfall across the front of the shop is much higher than it used to be, even with the tram work right outside.

[knitpick]

14 hours ago, bart2day said:

It’s sad, but they obviously weren’t doing well enough and their constant reductions shows this. 

 

I wonder if the one in Waterloo will stay open. When I was at uni in London I used to go there often on my way home. Great little shop and the last remaining in central London.

Slightly off topic, but I too tend to visit the Waterloo shop when up in London - mainly for books - there and London Transport Museum (about a mile away via Waterloo Bridge).  It would be sad if their Waterloo shop also closed.

[caradoc]

That's really sad news, best wishes for the staff there. It was bad enough when the Manchester shop closed, but the Birmingham one is ideally placed for a visit en route from Scotland to the South, or vice versa.

 

Regarding city centre rents; When Modelzone went down their shop in the St Enoch Centre in Glasgow became an American-themed restaurant. Last time I passed that had closed too ! There must come a point when high rents become counter-productive, if business cannot afford them and premises are empty ?

[Denbridge]

13 hours ago, melmerby said:

AFAIK They don't publish Ian Allan books, they sold the transport publishing arm to Crecy a few years back. The Magazines went as well (Key Publishing?)

They kept their Masonic publishing division.

 

Looks like they are retrenching to their Cars, Property & Masonic businesses, the two model shops are just a remnant of the old Ian Allan of railway publishing fame.

I would be surprised if they didn't close Waterloo as well, as on it's own it will be something of an enigma.

(I was told a while back by one of the staff that the Birmingham branch was a more successful shop than the London one).

 

The group actually has it's fingers in lot's of non transport pies, which I assume are much more profitable.

Their website has lots of dead links to former businesses.

 

Have a look at the accounts. Makes interesting reading:

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00739567/filing-history/MzIyNzg1ODIzMGFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0

 

 

I wonder how long they will keep the Great Cockcrow Railway? Probably the finest 7 1/4 line in the country and something dear to the heart of the late Ian Allan. 

[Edwin_m]

I guess general rises in property and land values, most often seen in the form of house prices, also affect businesses as landlords raise rents in line with the amount they would get for those properties if they sold them on. 

 

It seems to me that since IA's death the people who now run the business are treating it as strictly commercial and spinning of or closing anything that was relevant to IA's personal interests but not making that much money. 

Edited August 4, 2019 by Edwin_m

[Phil Parker]

25 minutes ago, caradoc said:

Regarding city centre rents; When Modelzone went down their shop in the St Enoch Centre in Glasgow became an American-themed restaurant. Last time I passed that had closed too ! There must come a point when high rents become counter-productive, if business cannot afford them and premises are empty ?

 

Judging from the vast swathes of boarded-up town centre shops, it seems that there are plenty of landlords happy to sit on assets realising no return. A huge amount of money is tired up in these, but they seem to be happy with the situation. 

[Arun Sharma]

31 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

 

Judging from the vast swathes of boarded-up town centre shops, it seems that there are plenty of landlords happy to sit on assets realising no return. A huge amount of money is tired up in these, but they seem to be happy with the situation. 

Does anyone know If a shop is boarded up and clearly non functioning, does the owner still have to pay any form of rates on it?

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, Edwin_m said:

It seems to me that since IA's death the people who now run the business are treating it as strictly commercial and spinning of or closing anything that was relevant to IA's personal interests but not making that much money. 

The company is still controlled by the Allan family.

I agree, the book & modelshops are now small fry compared to their other divisions and probably less profitable as well.

So a company that was founded on books for locospotters now has more going for it in supercar sales and masonic ritual publishing!

Edited August 4, 2019 by melmerby